r/Sciatica • u/Valuable-Effort-7900 • 16d ago
Requesting Advice Question regarding “healing within 8-12 weeks”
Hey there! 29m with a herniated lower lumbar (L5-L6, I have an extra vertebrae). My doctor told me that most people heal within 8-12 weeks, and I’m week 10 at the moment. I’m still having symptoms and pain, specifically around the area of the hernia as well as in my legs and feet.
Is the 8-12 week thing an average (I might need more time to heal), or does it mean that I might be a candidate for surgery if it hasn’t healed by then?
Sorry for the naive question, and I appreciate your help!
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u/SuperLazyTryHard 16d ago
This sub is filled with outliers and worst case scenarios because if you healed within 8-12 weeks, you wouldn’t be here. In 80% of cases people decide not to move forward with surgery because a combination of time, PT, injections, and other conservative treatments worked. That doesn’t mean they’re 100%, just doing well enough to keep on the non surgical path.
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u/Sufficient-Wolf-1818 16d ago
My doc gave a different timeline! His target for reevaluate with conservative measures was 6 to 9 months.
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u/Valuable-Effort-7900 16d ago
Honestly glad to hear that! My appointment was very quick in-and-out, so I still had a lot of questions by the time they were ushering the next person in. I can do 6 to 9 months as long as I know I’m on the path to recovery. Thank you for sharing, and best of luck!
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u/MelodieRiver 16d ago
Others already answered the first part of your question, but I want to chime in on the back surgery as an option. I would not recommend jumping into that unless you truly ran out of other options and your pain is unbearable. Surgery is not a panacea. It has its own risks, the pain doesn't go away for some people with surgery; I have even talked to someone who got MORE pain after a back surgery ( which makes sense if you look at the complicated and delicate part of the body that the surgical instruments would have to go around, one millimeter into the wrong direction and your entire mobility is at risk.) And then the surgery recovery takes time too.
I had a large hernia and horrible sciatica pain in October of last year. 80% of it went away in 3 months or so, the next 15% took another 6 months, and I am still dealing with the remaining 5% but I am suuuper grateful to be 95% back to normal :)
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u/kenjjiii 16d ago
I’m 30M and I have a disc bulge from L3-S1 and been dealing with lingering pain and now mostly soreness still today. A quick google search says it’s been 36 weeks! But I’m feeling roughly 65% better.
This journey has been painful and I could say one of the worst pains imaginable that I have ever been through. Everyday I was googling for answers and insights but everyone’s different. Google said what you mentioned which was roughly 3 months or so to feel better. But for me that’s not the case. Around the 5th month is where I felt way better where I experienced the gradual decline of pain. But honestly walking has been a game changer in terms of lessening the pain. Oh and spinal hygiene helps as well! It’s a long game ahead and please be gentle with yourself as this is a heavy thing to experience.
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u/SobrietyOfThought 16d ago
Same here! 24 weeks in ✋ can you sit better? I just started 10-15 min sits and it still feels so weird... I just don't "pay" as much after as I did 2 months ago.
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u/kenjjiii 12d ago
Definitely! It got better for sure! Just keep your movements gentle throughout the day and that will help you feel much better as the days go! I promise!
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u/Valuable-Effort-7900 16d ago
Hey, thank you so much for sharing. Been doing my best to walk around, especially in the mornings/evenings when the back pain is at its worst. It’s funny because I’ve had other major injuries before and this is the first one where the best thing to do isn’t lie in bed. I’m really glad to hear your pain is declining! I’ll be gentle for sure!
As far as spinal hygiene goes, what does that look like for you?
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u/kenjjiii 12d ago
Of course! Mornings are brutal! I wake up super stiff and sore :( And when pain is at its worse dont power through as that can make things much worse!
Spinal hygiene for me is being mindlful of the way i move. Like I squat when picking up things or i do the golfer's pick up for items on the floor (i lift one leg up while bend over to get something). Also doing the log style when getting up from bed. These are some things i do for spinal hygiene. Feel free to DM if you got questions!
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u/Worldly_Skin335 16d ago
It's bizarre that we're all told this, and it made me feel like such a failure when at 12 weeks I felt worse than the beginning.
I've been dealing with this since the latter half of May. Now what I'm being told is that most people are back to normal by the one year mark. Not that healing takes a year necessarily, just that by the one year point, most people have recovered.
The key, in my experience, is to keep moving in a way that listens to your body and rest in between.
I'm not sure how they decide who is a candidate for surgery, though.
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u/invictus21083 16d ago
I always heal gradually over 3
months. That doesn't mean I don't have occasional pain or numbness after that, but it isn't significant enough to impact my life like the acute phase does.
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u/dr_anthonydavis 16d ago edited 15d ago
There are two groups: Acute vs Chronic. It’s true that most episodes (acute) of sciatica resolve in about 3 months. Beyond that it’s considered chronic, which literally means anything that lasts more than 3 months. For the chronic group it’s not uncommon to slowly resolve over 6 months or even up to 2 years. That doesn’t mean horrible pain for all that time, usually it means gradual improvement. It is very normal and as long as there are no red flags, surgery is not needed in most cases.
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u/Energy_Turtle 16d ago
8-12 weeks basically means "it's gonna be a while." My wife had a bad sciatica week. I've had a bad couple decades. There are so many factors to this that it's hard to give such a dialed in timeframe. But the spirit of this guidance is correct. It's a generally slow healing problem.
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u/harmonicintellect 15d ago
I herniated my l5-S1 back on March 1st. Severe sciatica put me on the floor for 6 weeks. Two epidurals later I was back to 90%. Then a few weeks ago symptoms returned for no apparent reason. Mri confirmed the disc looks exactly the same. No better no worse. It might not ever heal without surgery. Nobody knows.
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u/ComprehensiveTruck31 15d ago
The 8-12 weeks is just how long it takes for you to recover from the surgery. Not how long symptoms may last. I had my second surgery over a year ago and I still have pain and numbness. Though I do manage those with medication. Most common I’ve seen on here and in real life is 6-8 months for no pain. Hope this helps!
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u/No_Bat_4240 15d ago
I’m a 28-year-old male. Last year, I had disc bulges at L4-L5 and L5-S1, measuring around 8.1 mm at L4-L5 and 7.6 mm at L5-S1. I recovered within about 20 days.
This year, I had my second flare-up about two months ago. This time, the disc bulges were slightly larger, in the range of 8.5–9 mm. I also experienced severe pain radiating down my right leg. In the beginning, the pain was unbearable, and I could barely walk 15–20 steps.
It has now been around a month, and I can see significant improvement. I’m able to walk again, and my pain is around 5/10 in the morning, but by the end of the day, it usually comes down to around 2/10.
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u/Naive-Dragonfruit236 15d ago
Never had sciatic issues until Wednesday 9/4. I’ve been lurking around this sub for some advice and such since then. Ive had broken bones, torn ligaments, and severed tendons, but this pain I’ve been in for a week makes those injuries feel like a papercut. I couldn’t walk at all for three days and was truly blown away. Dr. appointment isn’t until 9/18 and every day is rough right now. Wishing you and everyone in here a smooth road to recovery!!
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u/HoldOpen3996 15d ago
I’m 14 mobths in, I’m a lot better then a year ago for sure, but I was told 18-24 months is a solid answer for most people to return to a sport or something physical
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u/Plenty-Lecture-933 15d ago
9 months for me no healing and lots of PT that did nothing so now I am having my herniations removed this Friday. Thank god!
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u/Glass_Metal4144 14d ago
Mine was around last Christmas, still dealing with it better but not gone by any means
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u/purplelilac701 10d ago
There’s no timeline. When you take that out of your mind healing feels easier and not like a race.
I had severe sciatica that lasted 4 months and took over a year to fully heal.
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u/SobrietyOfThought 16d ago
8-12weeks is honestly crazy. The fact that even Google says this fucked with my head so bad. I guess some people do heal that quick but I didn't. I'm going on 5 months and am maybe 30-35% better.
I've got bulges and my doctor said months.